Fó shuō guànxǐ fóxíngxiàng jīng 佛說灌洗佛形像經
The Buddha’s Sūtra on the Bathing of the Buddha-Image translated by 法炬 (Fǎjù, 譯)
About the work
T695 in one fascicle is the principal scriptural ground for the East-Asian Buddhist guānfó 灌佛 / yùfó 浴佛 ritual — the Buddha’s-Birthday image-bathing rite practised on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. Translated by 法炬 of Western Jìn 西晉, c. 290–306 CE — the same translator who also produced KR6i0362 (with 法立) and several other short Western-Jìn renderings.
Abstract
The text recounts the Buddha’s account, to a multitude of Mahā-mūrdhan (摩訶剎頭) and gods and humans, of the events of his birth — his immaculate descent into Lumbinī, his seven steps, his lifting of his right hand and pronouncement of “天上天下唯吾為尊” (“In Heaven above and on Earth below, I alone am supreme”), and the bathing of his body by the Four Heavenly Kings, Brahmā, Indra, and the gods of the Tāvatiṃśa with cool and warm water. This account becomes the scriptural model for the East-Asian Buddhist Buddha’s-Birthday ritual: bathing a small standing image of the infant Buddha (in the iconographic posture of the seven-steps moment, right hand raised) on a flower-decked altar, by pouring water from above. The closing portion of the sūtra spells out the merits of performing the rite annually on the eighth day of the fourth month.
The text is closely paired with [[KR6i0386|Móhēshàtóu jīng 摩訶剎頭經]] (T696, alternate title 灌佛形像經, translated by 聖堅 of Western Qín 西秦) — the two texts being parallel renderings of the same Indian original. The titular “Mahāmūrdhan” (“Great-headed”) in T696 is a transliteration of the Sanskrit term retained as a Chinese title-marker. The two versions differ in detail but both supply the canonical scriptural authority for the Buddha’s-Birthday bathing ritual.
Related canonical texts: parallel KR6i0386 (T696); related image-cult cluster KR6i0382–KR6i0388.
Translations and research
- Hamada Yoshie 浜田吉江. Yokubutsu shiki no shisō to bunka 浴仏式の思想と文化. Tokyo: Hōzōkan, 2009 (the principal Japanese-language study of the Buddha’s-Birthday ritual).
- Strong, John S. The Legend of King Aśoka. Princeton, 1983 (background on early Buddhist image-bathing).
No standalone English translation located.